Further and Higher Education Act

Mr. Damian Green:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans she has to revoke section 68(3) of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992; and if she will make a statement. [40799]

Margaret Hodge [holding answer 6 March 2002]: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has no such plans.

Ministerial Design Champion

Bob Spink:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what meetings the Ministerial Design Champion for her Department has attended in his capacity as Design Champion in the last month; and if she will make a statement. [41958]

Mr. Ivan Lewis:
The Department's design champion has not been involved in any design championship activity in the last month.

Connexions Service

Mr. Andrew Turner:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what information on the Connexion Card database may be passed to (a) other parts of Connexions and (b) other public or private agencies (i) with and (ii) without the agreement of the data subject. [42136]

Mr. Ivan Lewis:
We anticipate that the name, address and date of birth on the young person's Connexions Card will be able to be used by the local Connexions Service

11 Mar 2002 : Column 770W

to supplement the information that helps them to provide help and support to young people. Similarly, in order to run the scheme effectively, information may also be shared with the Learning and Skills Council. The arrangements governing the sharing of information comply with the Data Protection Act and section 114 of the Learning and Skills Act.

The Privacy Statement distributed to all young people when they register as card members allows them to choose whether or not they are content for information about them to be passed to commercial partners in order to receive information on goods and services. This permission can be altered by the young person at any time via the Connexions Card website. The information provided to commercial partners will be no more than to allow the mailing of information and is subject to the approval of my Department.

Local Education Authorities (Funding)

Mr. Andrew Turner:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what assessment she has made of the amount of headteachers' time spent preparing bids for her Department's special funding; [42138]

(2) if she will list, for each local education authority, the schemes through which (a) the authority, (b) some or all maintained schools and (c) both are eligible to bid for additional funding; and what the aggregate additional funding paid through such schemes was, in the most recent year for which information is available. [42139]

11 Mar 2002 : Column 771W

Mr. Timms:
No such assessment has been made.

Most additional education funding is allocated and paid to local education authorities through the Standards Fund and Special Grants. In 200102 the Standards Fund is worth £2.9 billion of Government grant and Special Grant worth £1.1 billion.

Almost all Standard Fund grants are allocated to LEAs on a formula basis and the Government expects LEAs to devolve grants to schools by a fair formula, in which case schools should not have to apply for grant. All Special Grants are allocated to local education authorities via a specified formula by which they must pass grant on to their schools.

Local Education Authorities

Mr. Andrew Turner:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will state, for each local education authority, whether they (a) have beacon status and (b) have failed an Ofsted inspection. [42140]

Mr. Timms:
The information requested is as follows:

LEAs in which DfES has intervened on the basis of an adverse Ofsted inspection report:

Bradford

Bristol 1

Derby

Doncaster

Dudley

Hackney

Haringey

Isles of Scilly

Islington 1

Leeds

Leicester City 1

Liverpool 1

Redbridge

Rochdale

Rotherham 1

Sandwell

Sheffield

South Tyneside

Southwark

Swindon

Thurrock

Waltham Forest

Walsall

1 LEAs that have subsequently been re-inspected and received a positive report

LEAs that have been awarded Beacon status

Year 1 (19992000)"Helping to Raise Standards by Tackling School Failure"

Blackburn with Darwen

Camden

North Tyneside

Suffolk

Year 2 (200001)"Raising Attainment of Underachieving Groups"

Camden

North Lincolnshire

York

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Year 3 (200102)"Transition in Education"

Results are due soon

LEAs are awarded Beacon status for one year and are judged on their performance against a particular theme.

Shortage-subject Specialists

Ms Atherton:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what additional rewards are available to teachers trained to teach in primary education who subsequently become shortage-subject specialists. [42606]

Mr. Timms:
The School Teachers' Pay Conditions Document 2001 allows employers to offer recruitment and retention allowances worth up to £5,085 a year to classroom teachers in any subject or phase.

Ms Atherton:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans she has to extend golden hello payments to all teachers appointed as shortage- subject specialists in primary schools. [42605]

Mr. Timms:
Golden Hellos are payable to eligible teachers in primary schools if they trained in a shortage subject and are responsible for teaching that subject to classes other than their own. My right hon. Friend has no present plans to change these criteria.

LORD CHANCELLOR'S DEPARTMENT

Community Court Orders

Mr. Heath:
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what recent discussions he has had with the police and magistrates courts committees concerning the enforcement of warrants for the breach of community court orders; and if he will make a statement. [38886]

Mr. Wills:
Lead responsibility for execution of community penalty breach warrants was transferred from the police to the Magistrates Courts Committees on 1 April 2001. No targets were set for execution of these warrants during the first year of operation to enable baseline data to be collected.

On 28 February the Lord Chancellor announced challenging targets for Magistrates Courts Committees for 200203 for enforcement of both financial and non-financial penalties. I refer the hon. Member to the reply which I gave on that day to my hon. Friend the Member for Cleethorpes (Shona McIsaac), Official Report, column 1554W.

My officials have a constant dialogue with representatives of the magistrates courts service on this subject. The police now play a supporting but important role in enforcement in line with the National Framework Agreement between the Home Office and the Lord Chancellor's Department. This agreement is working well and so there have been no recent discussions between my Department and the police on this subject.

Auld Report

Mr. McNamara:
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what consideration he has

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made of recommendations 106 and 107 of the Review of the Criminal Courts of England and Wales by Lord Justice Auld, October 2001. [41772]

Mr. Wills:
The Government have taken no decisions on the report of Sir Robin Auld's Review. The period for comment closed on 31 January. The Government are now considering the recommendations in detail, taking account of the comments received. The Government will announce their conclusions by way of a White Paper in the spring.

Relocation Expenses

Mr. Bercow:
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department what her policy is on the payment of relocation expenses to staff in his Department. [41032]

Ms Rosie Winterton:
In line with the Civil Service Management Code the Lord Chancellor's Department pays relocation expenses to staff who permanently transfer to another office, providing the following conditions apply: reimbursement is subject to a permanent compulsory move; the relocation terms are cost effective compared to the alternatives; and there must be a benefit to the Department or agency. Where posts are advertised with relocation terms then staff appointed to those posts may be entitled to reimbursement of their relocation expenses in accordance with our internal guidance.

Gravesend County Court

Mr. Pond:
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many (a) default unliquidated amounts, (b) default fixed amounts and (c) possession actions were issued by Gravesend county court in each six month period from January 1999. [40770]

Mr. Wills:
Figures concerning the above are provided in the table. However, since a breakdown of default claims is not collected as requested, a total figure has been provided instead.

Default claims and possessions actions issued at Gravesend county court during selected periods

Total default claims

Total possession actions issued(42)

January 1999 to June 1999

489

197

July 1999 to December 1999

439

252

January 2000 to June 2000

409

215

July 2000 to December 2000

436

182

January 2001 to June 2001

357

190

July 2001 to December 2001

483

235

(42) Includes mortgage and rent actions.

Mr. Pond:
To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many fixed date actions, excluding default fixed amounts, default unliquidated amounts and possession action, were issued by Gravesend county court in each six-month period from January 1999. [40771]